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If you have ever been pregnant while living with T1D, how much did your insulin needs change throughout your pregnancy?
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It’s been so long that I really don’t remember! I do know that I let my blood sugar run lower than normal at the advice of my doctor.
I’ve had T1D for 14 years but haven’t been pregnant yet. I’ve only been married a little less than eight months. I hope to have a baby within the next two years.
Actually, my last pregnancy was in 1970, and I’m not sure. I don’t remember my Dr’s making changes to my insulin, but I think it didn’t change.
My doctor told me to get my insulin requirements down as low as I could before getting pregnant. My insulin requirements more than doubled toward the end of the pregnancy. This was in 1971.
My three children were born more than fifty years ago when things were much different. I don’t remember changing my NPH doses, but with all three pregnancies, experienced extreme lows which usually occurred at night and resulted in losing consciousness and winding up in the emergency room. Happy ending: three wonderful adults in their fifties, two grandkids, and no sign of diabetes in any of them. My fifteen year old labradoodle does get four shots of insulin a day. Somehow it all evens out.
Sorry your dog needs insulin 4 X day. Thumbs up for healthy kids & grandchildren! 50+ years ago we were very much in the dark ages of glucose management.
Not Applicable as I’m male and never been pregnant. 😉
Happy and healthy baby boy born in December! My insulin needs more than doubled, and the timing of insulin and food changed too. I had an incredible team and support system, and could not have done it without them. It’s not easy, but it’s manageable, and certainly WORTH IT!
My insulin needs continued to rise throughout the pregnancy, and then, BOOM, dropped all the way back down at birth. All went well.
I put that I needed a little more insulin. I think it had more to with me being insatiably hungry and eating more. I did have moments where I went low unexpectedly and wondered if my beta cells were recovering or just benefiting from the baby’s pancreas.
In
On one occasion I was driving home from work and worried that I had forgotten to dose for a late afternoon snack. I was a little thirsty and thought for sure I was high. I almost have my self a couple unit bolus, but decided to wait until I got home to test. When I did my BG was 20 mg/dl! Thank goodness I didn’t bolus!
That was another odd of thing about pregnancy, I tolerated much lower lows without significant impairment.
wow good thing you didn’t give that bolus!
Re: lows I’m the opposite, I would be in the 40s/50s and had awful low symptoms, where pre-pregnancy I would be fine at 50. So strange how we all react differently!
After a few days of COVID my use of insulin soared!. It hasn’t stopped yet 2 weeks in
Maybe a question or two?
I have had T1D since 1951 and have been insulin dependent since then. I had Covid-19 but was completely asymptomatic and saw no changes in insulin.
Both my girls were born with very low blood sugars though
In 1970 with urine testing and once a month labs I rarely knew what my glucose level was. The first trimester I had great difficulty keeping any food/drink down. Once I got beyond that my twice a day Regular/NPH increased to the point of doubling by induced delivery 6 weeks early. Our healthy baby daughter is now 52 with three adult kids of her own.
It was 25 years ago so I don’t remember.
It was over 50 years ago so I do not remember
I had been T1D for nearly 30 years when I was pregnant with my first child. After 2 decades of taking around 24u/day, it crept up to 74 by 3rd trimester- then plummeted and stayed low while breastfeeding. With second pregnancy, insulin requirements dropped to single digits & NEVER rebounded. 25 years later and 20 lbs heavier later, still take less than 15 u/day. Medical mystery according to my endo. No complaints!!
It’s been 43 years for me my doctor told me keep the same schedule get exercise every day and watch your insulin because the baby will be making some and you won’t need as much. That’s exactly what I did I was on NPH twice a day and I remember I had to lower the evening dose to almost half and the morning dose by about a third
I got pregnant in 1969 while on one shot of long-acting Lente a day. I’d pee in a test tube and compare it with a color chart after 15 seconds every morning, but regardless of what it said, I didn’t do anything else. The next morning I’d repeat the process, take my daily dose and go about my business. Once or twice a year I’d have an A1c done at the hospital, and my doctor (family doctor, not a specialist) might adjust my insulin or not. I didn’t start taking more than one shot a day, have an endocrinologist or test regularly until I was in my 40s. At 73, it’s a wonder I’m alive now, much less with nothing major wrong with me (other than T1D, of course!)
I chose other as 18yrs ago I didn’t make it past the four months of pregnancy.
I was having more hypoglycemic events and was prescribed my first Medtronic pump.
Horrible extreme highs and lows.
same! really frustrating and (mentally & physically) exhausting
Needs slowly increased so that I:C ratio was about 5x more by the end of pregnancy, until the last couple of weeks before delivery when needs started decreasing (because the placenta was wearing out).
I got pregnant 8 months after diagnosis in 1991. Then had my 2nd 17 months later. Both times I was on 2 shots per day, Reg & NPH in 1 syringe. Was never told to increase insulin. Told to take my blood sugar 1.5-2 hours after eating and important to keep below 180. It never stayed below 180 after a meal but would come crashing very low after my correction. Thankful to God that my babies were both healthy and only 6.5 and 6.6 pounds at 38 weeks.